Lula Mae's "Make a Wish" IM 14 peninsula--tank came down today. RIP

[seabass]

There might be a possibility of the blenny harassing a firefish (you know, liked shaped fish and all).  IDK, I get a little nervous with blennies, maybe more than necessary.

 

I do like watching the behavior of mated clownfish.  Although it might affect how territorial they act.  Sometimes I feel they can be more protective as a pair.  Add an anemone and it changes again.

[SeaFurn]

I like the idea of another clownfish. My pair are so fun to watch! 

 

A PSW would be icing on the cake for me! But I kinda have my hands full right now...

[Lula_Mae]

On 2/21/2018 at 5:03 AM, seabass said:

There might be a possibility of the blenny harassing a firefish (you know, liked shaped fish and all).  IDK, I get a little nervous with blennies, maybe more than necessary.

 

I do like watching the behavior of mated clownfish.  Although it might affect how territorial they act.  Sometimes I feel they can be more protective as a pair.  Add an anemone and it changes again.

I had thought of that and wondered if a firefish might be a better choice later on when the blenny has passed on to the great reef in the sky lol.  I do think it would be fun to watch a pair and hope they wouldn't be bullies to my other fishes.  No plans for a nem at this time (except maybe RFA's which don't really count for clowns).

 

On 2/21/2018 at 6:18 AM, SeaFurn said:

I like the idea of another clownfish. My pair are so fun to watch! 

 

A PSW would be icing on the cake for me! But I kinda have my hands full right now...

I think I probably will go with another clown, I think it would be great fun to watch two together!  You should definitely consider a PSW in the future, maybe for the 46 shallow referenced in your sig? (I have not read any threads so I dunno what your plans are lol).

 

The PSW has found a spot in the back in the macros he likes and my husband said he spotted him swimming around and exploring in the open last night!  I have been working a lot this week so I missed it all.

[Lula_Mae]

I wound up not getting another clown.  Myrtle the clownfish started trying to nip me in the 5.5 so I moved her into this tank a few weeks ago.  Since she moved in, Martin the tailspot blenny and Merlin the pink-streaked wrasse have become much bolder.  Myrtle and Martin love to play together in the current from the AquaClear70 on here.  It's so adorable! Merlin will sometimes swim to the front of the tank, but if I get closer than about 5 feet away, he ducks and runs. He has gotten bolder, though.  There's enough algae on the wall at the moment that the large scarlet hermit has been spotted climbing halfway up the glass a few times.  He also likes to climb to the top of the rock as if playing king of the mountain.  The porcelain crab love, love, loves his St. Thomas mushroom.  I'm not sure the St. Thomas loves him as much but it tolerates him just fine.  The baby fox coral is in a slow decline and I'm not sure why. I'm pretty sure the big hermit is munching on macros and killing snails, probably hungry because he's so big for the tank.   Pics eventually, sometime.

[fishfreak0114]

Merlin sounds adorable!!  I’m sorry to hear about the fox coral. Sometimes things just decide to die  I look forward to pictures!!  

[teenyreef]

Congrats on the new car! And I'm glad you're feeling better.

 

My PSW started coming out a lot more after I removed my clowns from the tank. Just something to consider. He also didn't come out much at all for the first few months after I got him. 

 

Just from personal experience in my 10g, some other ideas are golden assessor, leopard toby puffer or mimic saddle puffer (but probably not together with a clown, too many bigger fish), green banded gobies. I also love my Springer's Damsel. They aren't your typical damsel fish, they are very nice to the other fish and they are a beautiful electric blue. 

[Lula_Mae]

On 4/10/2018 at 10:53 AM, fishfreak0114 said:

Merlin sounds adorable!!  I’m sorry to hear about the fox coral. Sometimes things just decide to die  I look forward to pictures!!  

Speaking of dying....a couple of weeks ago I noticed Martin the TSB wasn't swimming around.  I looked for him and found him curled up at the bottom of the tank.  I tried to catch him to isolate him but he escaped into the macro jungle.  In the process he got flipped upside down and thrashed about wildly until he was able to right himself.  I haven't seen him since and suspect the hermits had a feast that night.  I'm not sure if he was injured or sick or what happened as a couple days before he'd been a greedy little piggy as always.

On 4/10/2018 at 4:19 PM, teenyreef said:

Congrats on the new car! And I'm glad you're feeling better.

 

My PSW started coming out a lot more after I removed my clowns from the tank. Just something to consider. He also didn't come out much at all for the first few months after I got him. 

 

Just from personal experience in my 10g, some other ideas are golden assessor, leopard toby puffer or mimic saddle puffer (but probably not together with a clown, too many bigger fish), green banded gobies. I also love my Springer's Damsel. They aren't your typical damsel fish, they are very nice to the other fish and they are a beautiful electric blue. 

Thanks for the heads up.  Merlin does peek out at times and Myrtle doesn't seem to bother him but she's started biting me again when I stick my hands in the tank.   They do both love their flakes, though, and feeding time is very entertaining!  

 

I'm at a crossroads right now with my tanks.  My long commute saps a lot of my energy that would otherwise be spent on things like household chores and maintaining my tanks, and I've just started back to school to advance my career as well, so I'm trying to decide what to do with all of my tanks.  The Jarden still hasn't been combined with the 5.5 and I'm doing water changes every few days to combat cyano which is driving me nuts.  This tank also has some cyano, and needs more frequent water changes than it's getting.  If Myrtle keeps biting me and I end up taking her back to the store, I will probably take this tank down and save it for the future, since I'll have all the equipment and everything I need.  I may get another tank bigger than the 5.5 but probably smaller than 10 gallons and combine elements of all my tanks so that I have something that's easy to maintain and enjoyable but not overwhelming.  I dunno for sure, though.  Mostly just thinking out loud at the moment. 

[debbeach13]

Why not move almost everything to the 15 and take down at least on of the others?

[Lula_Mae]

On 5/15/2018 at 1:41 AM, debbeach13 said:

Why not move almost everything to the 15 and take down at least on of the others?

I've considered that, but the 15 is in the living room and I spend most of my time in the office, where the other tanks are. The office is too small for the 15. And no tanks in the bedroom since I sleep during the day and my husband sleeps at night so no good time for lights on lol. The 5.5 is currently beside my desk and the jar is on it so I spend lots of time watching them there. I've also found the larger water changes to be a hassle in my still-small apartment haha. I dunno. I'd like to keep it up but am facing the fact that it may just not be the right time for it. A smaller tank will be easier to move when we leave here anyway but I don't want that to be a motivating factor as it's still a year or more away, most likely.

[debbeach13]

I was thinking by using the 15 which is already up and running you save any money that would be spent on new tank and or equipment. The larger tank is more forgiving if neglected a bit. As long as not over stock with fish maintaining water quality should be relatively easy. Try reducing water changes either every other week or maybe 10% instead of 20%, I am not sure your current schedule. You mentioned several times adding the jar to the 5.5 do that and with reduced WC on the 15 it may be manageable again. Sell or trade any duplicate corals and your back in business.

[Subsea]

7 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

I was thinking by using the 15 which is already up and running you save any money that would be spent on new tank and or equipment. The larger tank is more forgiving if neglected a bit. As long as not over stock with fish maintaining water quality should be relatively easy. Try reducing water changes either every other week or maybe 10% instead of 20%, I am not sure your current schedule. You mentioned several times adding the jar to the 5.5 do that and with reduced WC on the 15 it may be manageable again. Sell or trade any duplicate corals and your back in business.

 

I suspect “too many tanks syndrome”.

[Lula_Mae]

On 5/17/2018 at 9:25 AM, debbeach13 said:

I was thinking by using the 15 which is already up and running you save any money that would be spent on new tank and or equipment. The larger tank is more forgiving if neglected a bit. As long as not over stock with fish maintaining water quality should be relatively easy. Try reducing water changes either every other week or maybe 10% instead of 20%, I am not sure your current schedule. You mentioned several times adding the jar to the 5.5 do that and with reduced WC on the 15 it may be manageable again. Sell or trade any duplicate corals and your back in business.

Confession time...right now the tanks are lucky to get a water change once a month, of any size. It's part of why they're not doing well.  I wouldn't have to buy any equipment as everything could be reused--the AI Prime from this tank, the AC 70 from this or the AC 30 on the little hospital/frag tank, the Koralia Nanos on this, the heater from this...basically all I'd need is the tank since I don't currently own anything in between 5 and 10 gallons.  I know the bigger tanks can be more forgiving but I also find the bigger water changes to be more of a hassle with the way my apartment is laid out.  I think it's also that I just haven't been able to enjoy this tank like I expected and planned to, I haven't even glued anything down in it.  I scrape the algae now and again, do a little water change, and feed the fish and that's about it.  I think I'm just feeling the need to simplify and streamline my life as much as possible and this may be one piece of that.  Of course, if I keep the clown, I won't be able to go as small as I'm thinking lol.  I dunno yet.  Being able to write out what's running through my head and getting ideas from others always helps when making decisions.

 

On 5/17/2018 at 9:34 AM, Subsea said:

 

I suspect “too many tanks syndrome”.

Well, it's part that, and part too much going on in life.  In some ways I miss when it was just my little tank with Shelby the crazy pom pom crab.  But I wanted something bigger and went for it and am finding maybe it wasn't yet the right time for it.  I know a 15 is pretty small to most people, but the biggest tank I've ever had was an 18g freshwater I had in college, and other than my little 15 tall that currently houses my betta Zoe, I've never had tanks bigger than 10 gallons, so a 15L seems huge to me lol.

 

Thanks for chiming in, guys.  It's nice to get some feedback, especially when my brain is so zapped from working so much the last few days (have worked 6 12's in the last 8 days so I'm pretty pooped lol).

[Subsea]

@Lula_Mae

 

Peace and tranquility.   Balance is important.  R & R puts off stress.  Turn your thread notices off and chill out.  Treat yourself to a ”Calgon, take me away moment”.  Sorry for the corney humor, it amuses me.  Hope it finds you in good spirit.

 

later today, I will post to my “too many tanks” thread.  Part of that involves outside aquaculture.

[Lula_Mae]

7 hours ago, Subsea said:

@Lula_Mae

 

Peace and tranquility.   Balance is important.  R & R puts off stress.  Turn your thread notices off and chill out.  Treat yourself to a ”Calgon, take me away moment”.  Sorry for the corney humor, it amuses me.  Hope it finds you in good spirit.

 

later today, I will post to my “too many tanks” thread.  Part of that involves outside aquaculture.

Too much for me! 

[Subsea]

@Lula_Mae

 

I will be 70 years old in a few days and I feeel like a kid.  I am retired.  In anything that I do, it becomes a passion.  Being retired, I choose to do what I want and I have the luxury of retirement time management..  This stuff is not work, if you love it.  Time management is the issue.

Hope you get rejuvenation.

 

[Lula_Mae]

58 minutes ago, Subsea said:

@Lula_Mae

 

I will be 70 years old in a few days and I feeel like a kid.  I am retired.  In anything that I do, it becomes a passion.  Being retired, I choose to do what I want and I have the luxury of retirement time management..  This stuff is not work, if you love it.  Time management is the issue.

Hope you get rejuvenation.

 

It's true.  I have to work in tank maintenance in between waking up in the afternoon (I work night shift) and husband going to bed around 9, on my nights off, with errands etc. that have to get done. #adultingproblems

[Lula_Mae]

Well, thanks to a 30% off coupon from the Drs., this tank will be getting a major upgrade soon!  Also, my wallet is smarting. Memorial Day sales are dangerous, ya'll!

[Cannedfish]

9 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Well, thanks to a 30% off coupon from the Drs., this tank will be getting a major upgrade soon!  Also, my wallet is smarting. Memorial Day sales are dangerous, ya'll!

Don't worry about your wallet, because as we all know, "you's have to spend monies to makes monies!" If I have learned anything during my soul-sucking existence in corporate America, it's all about have you spin it. Don't think of it as 'buying something,' rather 'reclassify' and explain it (footnotes and fine print are great for this) as a 'capital expenditure' or 'investment towards the future' or "research & development' or 'customer relations' or some other non-nonsensical corporate buzzword. If all else fails just mutter the phrase 'business business business' recites some random numbers (or a Tommy Tutone song) and point to a graph. If you are really good, you will pass the cost on to your customers or investors or both and immediately give yourself a raise (come on you have been working hard!), and make sure to write all the costs off on your taxes. With this behind us, let's discuss stock compensation and vacation time.

 

That being said, this was a great decision, and speaking for the masses, we are all super excited to see what comes!

[lkoechle]

10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Well, thanks to a 30% off coupon from the Drs., this tank will be getting a major upgrade soon!  Also, my wallet is smarting. Memorial Day sales are dangerous, ya'll!

Same.  I just bought coral from an lfs and then immediately ordered from wwc 🤣🤣

[Cannedfish]

1 hour ago, Cannedfish said:

 

[Lula_Mae]

12 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

Don't worry about your wallet, because as we all know, "you's have to spend monies to makes monies!" If I have learned anything during my soul-sucking existence in corporate America, it's all about have you spin it. Don't think of it as 'buying something,' rather 'reclassify' and explain it (footnotes and fine print are great for this) as a 'capital expenditure' or 'investment towards the future' or "research & development' or 'customer relations' or some other non-nonsensical corporate buzzword. If all else fails just mutter the phrase 'business business business' recites some random numbers (or a Tommy Tutone song) and point to a graph. If you are really good, you will pass the cost on to your customers or investors or both and immediately give yourself a raise (come on you have been working hard!), and make sure to write all the costs off on your taxes. With this behind us, let's discuss stock compensation and vacation time.

 

That being said, this was a great decision, and speaking for the masses, we are all super excited to see what comes!

If I worked in corporate America lol. As it is I expect my husband to give me a Look that says "Do I even want to know how much you spent on this?" 

11 hours ago, lkoechle said:

Same.  I just bought coral from an lfs and then immediately ordered from wwc 🤣🤣

Haha nice, I did buy some macros to put something, checked my email and found the coupon, then checked to see if it would work on the item in question and when it did...

 

Well, we all see what happened next. 

 

[Lula_Mae]

It's on its way!!!

 

 

              

[lkoechle]

15 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

It's on its way!!!

 

 

              

Way to catch the train a year later 🤣🤣🤣  I'm excited for you!!!!

[SeaFurn]

19 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

It's on its way!!!

 

 

              

Sweet!!

 

But damn - I was gonna sell you mine that I just took down....

 

[Lula_Mae]

27 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

Way to catch the train a year later 🤣🤣🤣  I'm excited for you!!!!

You know, I was eyeing this tank last year and then was announced as the contest tank and I wanted to get in on it soooo badly but had neither the space nor the money for it.

 

I got a better deal on it this year anyway. Plus I have the light that I love!

22 minutes ago, SeaFurn said:

Sweet!!

 

But damn - I was gonna sell you mine that I just took down....

 

I think the drive or the shipping either one would be prohibitive lol.